[437] Feudal England, p. 324. The present writer was led independently to the same conclusion. Pentecost was the nickname of Osbern, son of Richard Scrob, one of Edward’s Norman favourites, to whom he had given estates in Herefordshire. Osbern fled to Scotland in 1052, but he seems to have returned, and was still holding lands in “the castelry of Ewias” at the time of the Survey, though his nephew Alured held the castle. See Freeman, N. C., ii., 345, and Florence of Worcester, 1052.
[438] “Locum vero intra mœnia ad extruendum castellum delegit, ibique Baldwinum de Molis, filium Gisleberti comitis, aliosque milites præcipuos reliquit, qui necessarium opus conficerent, præsidioque manerunt.” Ordericus, ii., 181.
[439] Exeter is one of the few cities where a tradition has been preserved of the site of the Saxon royal residence, which places it in what is now Paul Street, far away from the present castle. Shorrt’s Sylva Antiqua Iscana, p. 7.
[440] “In hac civitate vastatæ sunt 48 domi postquam rex venit in Angliam.” D. B., i., 100.
[441] Norman Conquest, iv., 162.
[442] The outer ditch may have been of Roman origin, but in that case it must have been carried all round the city, and we are unable to find whether this was the case or not. The banks on the north and east sides must also have been of Roman origin, and if we rightly understand the statements of local antiquaries, the Roman city wall stood upon them, and has actually been found in situ, cased with mediæval rubble. Report of Devon Association, 1895.
[443] This resemblance to a pit may be seen in every motte which still retains its ancient earthen breast-work, as at Castle Levington, Burton in Lonsdale, and Castlehaugh, Gisburne. Perhaps this is the reason that we so frequently read in the Pipe Rolls of “the houses in the motte” (domos in Mota) instead of on the motte. Devizes Castle is another and still more striking instance.
[444] Professor Baldwin Brown, The Arts in Early England, ii., 82.
[445] “In custamento gaiole in ballia castelli, £16, 15s. 8d.”
[446] Cited by Dr Oliver, “The Castle of Exeter,” in Arch. Journ., vii., 128.